Replacing Google Photos with Immich

Google Photos is one of the hardest services to self-host a replacement for. The search, the automatic organization, the seamless mobile backup. Most alternatives feel like a downgrade. Immich is the first one that does not.

What Immich does

Immich is a self-hosted photo and video management platform. It handles everything you expect from Google Photos: automatic mobile backup, facial recognition, location-based browsing, albums, sharing, and search. The web interface and mobile apps feel modern and responsive.

Setting it up

Immich uses Docker Compose with several services (the app, a database, machine learning for facial recognition, and Redis):

# Download the docker-compose file and .env
wget https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
wget https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/.env

Edit the .env file to set your upload location and database password, then:

docker compose up -d

The initial setup wizard runs at http://your-server-ip:2283. Create an admin account and you are ready to start uploading.

Mobile backup

Install the Immich app on iOS or Android, point it at your server URL, and enable background backup. New photos and videos upload automatically when you are on Wi-Fi (or cellular, if you prefer).

The backup is fast and the app handles large libraries well. I migrated about 50,000 photos from Google Photos and the import took a few hours on my local network.

Machine learning features

Immich runs machine learning models locally on your server for facial recognition, object detection, and smart search. You can search for "dog" or "beach" or "sunset" and it finds relevant photos without any manual tagging.

The facial recognition groups photos by person automatically. Once you name someone, it applies across your entire library. This was the feature I thought I would miss most from Google Photos, and Immich's implementation is solid.

Storage

Photos go to a directory you specify, organized by date. Since they are just files on disk, you can back them up with any tool. I store mine on my TrueNAS and the ZFS snapshots give me versioned backups automatically.

The Google Photos import

Immich has a tool for importing your Google Takeout export. Download your data from Google, extract it, and use the Immich CLI to upload:

immich upload --recursive /path/to/google-takeout/photos

It preserves dates and metadata. The migration is not instant for large libraries, but it works.

What is missing

Immich is actively developed but still maturing. A few things that are not as good as Google Photos yet:

• Search is good but not Google-level
• Shared album collaboration is basic
• No "memories" or auto-generated highlight videos
• The Android widget is functional but simple

These are all actively being worked on. The project moves fast and every release adds features.

Worth the switch

If you care about owning your photos and not having them scanned for ad targeting, Immich is the best option available. The mobile experience is close enough to Google Photos that the switch does not feel like a sacrifice.

Sources

• Immich
• Immich on GitHub